Labourer gets 12 strokes for snatching woman’s handbag

A Kaduna magistrate’s court, on Tuesday, sentenced a 19-year-old labourer, Sani Zubairu, to 12 strokes of the cane for stealing.

Zubairu, of Unguwan Dosa, Kaduna, had pleaded guilty to a one-count of theft and prayed the court to temper justice with mercy.

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In his judgment, the magistrate, Ibrahim Emmanuel, ordered that the defendant be given 12 strokes of the cane.

Emmanuel said that the punishment would have been stiffer if the convict had not saved the court the pains of protracted prosecution.

He warned the convict to be of good behaviour and desist from crime.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Insp Chidi Leo, told the court that the suspect snatched a handbag belonging to one Zainab Bello on March 22, at 8:30pm at Kawo in Kaduna.

Leo said the handbag, valued at N5,000, contained a cell phone worth N55,000, passport photographs, ATM cards of three banks, N11,000 cash and other items. (NAN)